Waters of Comfort
by Fenrir Draca
Summary: Percy was abused by his mother, and has run away. Poseidon finds him and decides that instead of sending him to camp, Percy will live with him. How will Percy deal with living with a god? Underwater.
1. Found

**I apologize if you get confused on the POVs. They have a tendency to switch between Percy and Poseidon. Eventually, they will probably settle into just Percy, but for now they will switch at don't worry, I already know that they are a bit OOC.  
**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

**Chapter 1  
**

The night shimmered with the light from artificial light bulbs, but it was pitch black to the boy that bolted down the street, heading toward the park. Tears streamed down his face, cuts and bruises oozing blood were all over his body.

He tried to ignore the pain, both physical and emotional, but that was turning out to be impossible. It was just too great for his seven year old mind to block out.

Finally, once he was in the park, and out of sight of the entrance, he collapsed. Curling up in a ball at the base of a tall oak tree, the tears started to gush even faster now that he was no longer moving.

The world around him went on like normal; there was no hint that anything was wrong in the world. Except for the man that was also in the park. This man made his was over to the sobbing child, a troubled expression on his face.

The boy didn't notice the man until he was kneeling in front of him. When he did, he scrambled backwards, but wasn't really able to go far considering he was already up against a tree.

"It's okay, son. I won't hurt you," the man said.

The boy stared at him, fear in his eyes. The man got no other reply.

It was only then that the man noticed the bruises. Rage filled his eyes. _Who would DARE harm _his_ son?_ The man raised his hand, and the child flinched. But the only thing that he did was place his hand on the boy's shoulder.

Warmth spilled into him, and his wounds closed up. The boy stared, wide-eyed, at where cuts and bruises used to lace across his skin. Now, there was only smooth skin. After thoroughly examining his skin, the boy looked back into the man's gentle and kind sea-green eyes.

The man smiled. "Why aren't you at home with your mother, son?"

The boy's eyes widened in fear. "No! Don't make me go back there!" He started to shake uncontrollably.

"Hey, don't worry," the man shushed. "Just tell me why you don't want to go back." _Tell me why Sally let you get hurt._ The boy shook his head vigorously. "Please, Percy. I can't help unless you tell me."

The boy didn't catch that he hadn't told the man his name. Instead, he was lost in the horrible memories of what had happened earlier that night, and several times before as well.

Memories of pain, of disbelief at what was happening. The stench of alcohol was seared into his mind. Laughter mocked him, telling him that he was useless, telling him that he was stupid. A belt slammed into his skin, fists not far behind.

The man saw the growing fear in Percy's eyes, along with a distant look that told him the danger wasn't here, but in the boy's mind. He tried to get him out of whatever was scaring him, but the only thing that worked still took a couple of minutes to get the results he wanted.

Percy was slowly able to get the memories to stuff themselves in the back of his mind. When they were out of sight, he noticed that tears were coming from his eyes again. He turned his head away from the man, quickly wiping the tears off of his face, but more just replaced them.

The man could barely stop himself from hugging the boy. He wanted to comfort his son, but was worried that would only scare him more. The problem was, he didn't know what to do or say. He wasn't used to taking care of his children, much less when they were small and didn't know who they were yet.

He was still trying to think of what to say when Percy finally spoke, his voice braking several times. "She doesn't want me. She doesn't like me."

The man was shocked. Why wouldn't Sally want him? Was she the one that had hit their son? He couldn't believe it, didn't want to believe it.

All he did know was that he couldn't force Percy to go back, even if he wanted to. The kid was obviously scared of something, and he had a feeling that he wouldn't like what that reason was.

The sky thundered suddenly, even though there were no clouds in the sky. Lightning flashed, and where it had struck the ground stood a man in a gray business suit. Both men glared at each other for a moment, but finally the lightning man spoke.

"What are you doing, Poseidon?"

Poseidon didn't reply, only glared at the other man. Percy stared at him in a mixture of amazement and fear. How had that even been possible? This man had just walked out of a lightning bolt, completely unhurt, and acted as if it were no big deal. This may be New York City, but stuff like that just didn't happen.

After a while, the lightning man got angry. "Did you think I wouldn't know about him? Did you think that I wouldn't know that you broke the oath?"

Poseidon sighed. "I knew you would find out eventually, Zeus. Which was why I didn't hesitate to come and try to comfort him when I saw that he had run away from his mother.

Zeus glanced coldly at the boy. "Send him back."

Percy's eyes widened again. "No!"

"Why not?" Zeus narrowed his eyes, causing the boy to cower against the tree.

Poseidon stepped in front of him. "Zeus! Just because you just lost your daughter doesn't mean you should take it out on him!"

Zeus turned on him. "Tell me why he doesn't want to go back to his mother, and maybe I won't."

This time it was Poseidon that narrowed his eyes. "If you touch him, brother, I will make sure you have some quality time with our father."

"You have no right to threaten me!" Zeus yelled, though he looked a little pale. "Besides, you would have no reason to threaten me if you would just tell me what has him so upset."

Poseidon glanced at his son, who was still not looking at them. "He hasn't told me exactly, but I have a feeling that his mother has been abusing him."

Percy clenched his eyes shut as the memories started to come out of their corner again. He didn't want to cry again, but not in front of these strange men.

Behind his eyes, he saw his mother's face sneering at him, a beer bottle in her hand. Percy knew that if he looked around he would find more empty bottles around the room. His mother started to swing her leg, but he managed to shake his head vigorously, dislodging the memory and bringing his awareness back to the park.

The two men hadn't noticed that he had zoned out for a bit. In fact, they were pretty deep in their conversation. They switched languages a couple times, but Percy didn't notice he was still trying to escape his own memories.

"… with me," Poseidon pleaded.

Zeus started at him, coldly. "Just take him to camp. He _is_ old enough to go there."

"They might not treat him right there. He seems like he needs a little more compassion than that. He's hurting, and I _am_ going to help him."

Zeus sighed. "Fine, he can go with you, but you _will_ send him to camp by the time he is twelve." With that, another lightning bolt struck down on the earth, then he was gone.

Poseidon turned back to his son, who was still cured up against the tree, his eyes staring blankly into the distance. Crouching in front of him, he waited for Percy's head to turn towards him.

"Would you like to come with me to my palace? You won't have to go back to you mother," he said.

Percy stared at him. "I would live with you?" Poseidon nodded. "But why would you want me?"

Poseidon started, shocked at the question. "Why wouldn't I want you? You are my son and I wouldn't just let you live on the streets, or get abused, either."

Percy still started at him, but now it was a mixture of amazement, confusion, and anger. "But how come I never knew you? You left me and mom. If you are my dad, you don't care about me!"

Poseidon looked pained. "I had to. I didn't want to, but I was forced to." Percy opened his mouth, but he continued on, knowing what he was going to ask. "That man you just saw, with the lightning, he is the Lord of the Sky, Zeus. He is my brother and king of the gods. He is the one that made the Ancient Laws, which say that we can't raise our mortal children."

Percy was staring at him blankly now. What was he talking about? Gods? They weren't real, were they? And why was he talking as if he was one?

Seeing his blank look, Poseidon sighed. It was only to be expected. He hadn't told him about the Greek Gods and he had just launched into an explanation that probably hadn't made any sense to him. So he explained. He explained how the gods were real. He explained who he was, and who Percy was since he was his son.

By the time he was finished, Percy wasn't sure what to think. How could _he_ be a demigod? Demigods were supposed to be heroes, something he was definitely not. He couldn't even stand up to his mother when she was hitting him. If this man was his father, and a god, why would he want _him_?

Poseidon got up and walked away without warning. Percy didn't get up, but it didn't matter. The sea god stopped by a fountain, and the water stopped. He turned and gestured for Percy to join him.

The boy quickly walked over, not sure what else to do. Smiling at him, Poseidon raised his hand, and the water started up again, but this time it looked just a bit different. Almost as if it glowed. And it was accompanied by the scent of sea water, as if they were on a beach.

Staring at the water, Percy instinctively reached out to touch it. The water seemed to gravitate toward him, creating even more of an arc than the fountain itself already had.

There was tug in his gut, and the water started to funnel, swirling around the fountain in a watery tornado.

Poseidon watched his son play with the water with a smile He wasn't sure if Percy fully accepted what he had told him, but at least he wasn't freaking out, about the information and that the water was following his command.

"Do you want to come with me?"

Percy turned toward him, and the water dropped back into the fountain. He thought about it. He thought about how his mother hurt him. He thought about what had finally made him run. He thought about his wish for a better life.

Percy nodded. "Yes."


	2. Meeting the Family

**I meant to upload this earlier, but I was too busy, sometimes. The other times I was just too lazy to type this on the computer, because I already had it written down. Plus i just couldn't get it onto my story for a while.  
**

Chapter 2

Poseidon, using the water in the fountain, transported them to the courtyard of his underwater palace. All kinds of sea creatures swam around, going about their daily lives. Though most threw confused glances when they saw their lord with a child, one they had neither seen nor heard about before.

Percy looked around in awe at the palace; the coral plants, the sea shells, the fish people. He didn't even notice that he was breathing the water with absolutely no problem. He was oblivious to a certain merman glaring at him from the other side of the courtyard.

Poseidon led him inside the palace, walking slowly so his son could look around. The servants watched curiously, but they didn't ask, afraid that they were missing something that they should already know, but knowing that they had never seen him before.

When they got to the throne room, there was a beautiful woman talking to a merman in front of two coral thrones. They stopped when Poseidon came in with Percy. The woman looked confused, the merman looked angry.

Poseidon narrowed his eyes, he had a feeling he wouldn't like what they were talking about. The water was just filled with tension.

He wasn't sure what they would think about his decision to take Percy in. They didn't know that he'd had another child with another woman. But he wouldn't show how uneasy he was. He wouldn't show them that he was afraid of what they would think. Not of him, but of Percy.

"Who is this, my lord?"

It was the woman that broke the silence, her voice pleasant, but there was an underlying anger to her tone. Her posture looked like it was forced into being relaxed. Poseidon decided to ignore that.

"Amphitrite, Triton, this is Percy. He is my son. He is going to be staying with us from now on, so I would like it if you would accept him," Poseidon answered.

The merman, Triton, looked taken aback, and as if there was something scandalous in the notion of the boy living with them. The woman, Amphitrite, had growing anger in her eyes, but held up a hand when Triton opened his mouth to say something.

"Of course, my lord, but may I ask a question? How come he doesn't go to Camp Half-Blood? He is old enough, isn't he?" Amphitrite said, sounding genuinely curious. But she was still angry that her husband had had a child with another woman. Particularly after the oath he and his brothers had made after World War II.

"He has been … hurt. I do not think that he is ready to go there yet."

"Hurt? How?" Triton asked. His anger subdued a little bit, but was clearly still there. But just because he was mad at his father didn't mean that he couldn't be worried about his new half-brother.

Poseidon's eyes hardened. He didn't want to talk about it, especially around Percy, but he supposed that would help them accept him. He told them what he had gathered from Percy's responses about his mother.

Percy clenched his eyes closed. A pot full of boiling water sat on the stove. His mother stood next to it, sneering at him. She said something, but he didn't know what. Her eyes narrowed, and her hand shot out to grab the handle of the pot. Before he could even react, she threw the scalding water on him. He screamed, more from surprise than anything else. The water did not hurt him. In fact, it seemed to give him energy.

His mother screamed. "Curse your father!"

This time, Poseidon noticed that Percy had left them. He didn't know what to do, and was worried about the pained expression on his face. Amphitrite and Triton also looked worried.

Amphitrite stepped closer. Just as she was about to touch his face, Percy's eyes snapped open, startling her. The fear in his eyes made all of her anger melt out of her. She couldn't be mad at him. He was so obviously in pain, was so obviously terrified.

Percy stared into her eyes, thinking, at first, that it was his mother. He was shaking uncontrollably. His breathing was heavy. The memories still played behind his eyes, but now that his eyes weren't closed, he was able to push them away more firmly.

Triton glanced away from the terrified boy to his father. "Why would she hurt him?" he whispered so Percy couldn't hear them.

Poseidon shook his head. "I don't know, son. I could just be resent for me."

"But why take it out on him?"

Poseidon didn't answer him this time. Why would she take it out on Percy if it was resentment toward him? Whatever it was, he was glad that he got him out of there. He didn't want his son to suffer, especially for something that wasn't even his fault.

Amphitrite ignored them, keeping her eyes on locked on the boy's. She didn't know what he would do if she looked away, but she didn't wasn't to find out.

As much as she didn't like it, she was already starting to care about Percy. It wasn't his fault that his father had cheated on her with some mortal woman. Again. And one that decided to be abusive, too. She swore, sometimes Poseidon would just be better off not having affairs.

Poseidon put his hand on Percy's shoulder, startling him. Percy swung his gaze up to meet his. Fear was still evident in his eyes, but it was starting to slowly trickle away.

"Maybe it's time for you to go to bed."

He led him out of the room, leaving the other two there, more accepting of Percy than they had thought they would ever be. But that didn't mean they both weren't still mad at Poseidon.

Poseidon led Percy throughout the palace, giving him a tour, even though the boy was a bit tired and unable to completely focus. The servants continued to watch them, but word must have spread because they didn't look surprised.

It took a while for them to reach the room that Percy was going to stay in. After showing him the game room, Percy was already looking pretty happy. But when Poseidon opened to door the large bedroom. Percy's eyes got large with excitement.

The walls of the room were lined with seashells, they were even embedded in the wall. The bed was large, close to being too big for the boy that was going to be sleeping in it. The window over looked the front courtyard, so you could pretty much see anyone that entered the grounds, if they didn't swim in some other way.

"This is your room now," Poseidon smiled down at Percy. "I would suggest keeping the window closed at night, unless you want a shark swimming in on you."

Percy grinned, which was the happiest his expression had gotten all night. He walked into the room, his eyes darting around the relatively plain room. Besides the seashells, the entire room was bare, but it still looked spectacular compared to what he was used to.

Poseidon watched him from the door way. He hoped that Percy would like it here. He hoped that soon, he would stop being scared of memories and would fully show his true colors.

Percy stared at him from his new perch on the bed. He wanted to say something, but didn't know how to. He was beyond glad that he no longer had to live with his mother. He didn't know if he believed that this man was his father, but if he really was as nice as he seemed, he could care less, really.

"Thank you."

Poseidon smiled at him. "You're welcome. Sleep tight, Percy." After one last smile, he closed the door and walked away to find Amphitrite and Triton again and make sure that everything was okay with them.


	3. Nightmare

Chapter 3

Over the next few days, Percy got used to living in an underwater palace. He explored the place, trying to remember where everything was. He spent most of his time in the game room, though playing random games with merpeople and fish.

Often during the day, Percy would open his window, and his new best friend, Dex, who just happened to be a great white shark, would come to play with him.

During this time, Percy started getting over his fear, and the memories wouldn't invade his thoughts any more, if someone accidentally said something about his abuse. But in his dreams, they still haunted him. He would wake up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat, sure that he was back in his mother's house.

But his mother was the least of his nightmares.

One night, he dreamed that he was in a large, dark cavern, the ceiling so high that you could barely see the stalactites ready to fall on you. A large pit spread out in front of him, an evil darkness seeping out of it.

Percy looked around, trying to figure out where he was. But that was impossible. He had never even heard of a place like this, much less seen it. The pit looked bottomless, but he had the strangest feeling that something was living down there.

Laughing jarred him out of his musing. It sounded like it was coming from the bottom of the pit.

"Well, well, little hero. It seems that you are the one I want. Pull me out, help me rise.

Percy was beyond terrified now. Who was this voice? What did he want with him? It sounded demanding, but Percy didn't know what it demanded.

Suddenly, it felt as if the air around him hardened and tried to pull him into the pit. Percy resisted the force, but the voice laughed with delight.

"Yes, yes! Help me rise!"

Percy jolted upright in bed, breathing hard. It took a minute for his eyes to focus to the different light, and in that minute, he was absolutely sure that he was in the pit with whatever that evil voice was.

But his room was exactly the way it had been when he fell asleep.

That night, he had been completely unable to go back to sleep. In the morning, he hadn't quite gotten over it, and when Triton had met him in the kitchen for breakfast, it was one of the first things he noticed.

"What's up, kid? You looked a bit pale."

Percy wasn't sure if he should share his dream, but his fear wouldn't let him keep it a secret. When he was done, Triton himself looked a bit pale. Triton's eyes darted nervously around the room, as if he was expecting something to happen.

"We should tell father about this," he said, his voice trembling a slight bit before he could control it.

Percy nodded, not feeling any better from his brother's reaction. They walked around the palace, looking for Poseidon. They finally found him sitting on his throne, staring blankly out the windows.

After bowing, Triton explained what Percy had told him. The Sea God was silent for a bit afterward, studying his two sons with a sad expression.

Poseidon just couldn't believe that Percy had dreamed what he had told him. There was no way that _he_ could be coming back. It just couldn't happen.

He sighed. "I better tell Zeus about this." Soon after he said that, the water compressed around him, and he disappeared.

Triton looked like his worst fears were confirmed, but he pulled it together because he knew that he was scaring Percy even more. And there was no way he was going to show fear around here. To anyone. "I think I'll hang around you today, kid."

* * *

Poseidon appeared on Mount Olympus on the stairs of the Throne Room. His face was expressionless, but his mind was filled with terrifying scenarios about what would happen if the voice from the pit rose. All about Percy.

When he stepped into the room, Zeus was sitting on his throne, talking to three women. They didn't pause in their conversation as he walked across the room and sat on his throne.

"… I don't care what they think. I am not going to give it up!" one of the women said. She had black hair and gray eyes. Her expression, as all were all of the women's, showed how annoyed she was.

Zeus sighed. "I know, Athena, but you have got to understand—"

"What I don't understand is why you even care. They have done this several times before, and you haven't cared," a different woman said. This one looked more like a little girl around twelve years old with silver eyes.

He paused, an uncertain expression on his face, then he turned to the one sitting right next to him. "Hera, what do you think?"

Hera smiled brilliantly at him. "I think that you should let them choose what to do themselves, dear."

Zeus nodded. "Very well. Athena, Artemis, you may choose what to do about this yourselves. Brother, I did not know you were coming today, and you looked worried. What is it?"

Athena and Artemis had been getting up to leave, but stopped when they, too, saw Poseidon's expression and settled back into their thrones. Athena looked suspicious.

"Yes, fish breath, what is wrong?"

Poseidon glared at her, then he turned to his brother and told him what Triton and Percy had told him. When he was done, the entire room was silent. There was no way to tell what everyone was thinking. It wasn't good, that much was true.

Finally, Zeus shook his head. "It was just a dream. It doesn't mean that father is rising."

Artemis looked appalled, but hopeful. "We should still take precautions. We should tell Hades to make absolutely sure that no one can get into Tartarus."

Zeus's eyes flashed dangerously. "No. There is no way that he can be rising. We will not speak of it further." He swept out of the room before anyone else could protest. Hera sighed and followed him.

The three left just sat in their thrones and stared at each other. Athena looked to be working out some problem while Artemis was angry.

"If this really is happening, we should do something about it!"

Athena nodded. "I agree, this can't just be a coincidence." She looked over at Poseidon. "As much as I don't like it, I'm glad he let you keep your son with you."

Poseidon narrowed his eyes. Had she just said something that could have meant she cared for his son? Shouldn't she be getting on him for breaking the oath?

Before he could say anything, she went on. "Don't think that I don't think that you aren't stupid for breaking the oath. I just think that with you is the best place for him right now."

Artemis nodded her agreement. "After what his mother did to him, he isn't ready for camp. I still can't believe that someone would be that cruel to a little kid!"

Poseidon sighed, completely unsurprised that they knew about Percy. Zeus had probably told them. "I don't know why. I'm just glad that he seems to be happy down there."

Athena nodded. "Come on, Artemis. Let's go tell the idiots, once again, that we aren't going to give into their demands."

**Don't ask what they were talking about before Poseidon walked in, I have no idea. After this, I am going to be skipping time frames a couple times until Percy gets to camp, simply because it would be harder to come up with other thinks to do underwater when he supposed to be pretty safe with his father.**


	4. Titan of the Ocean

**I know some of you want me to write some bonding time between Percy and Poseidon, but I can't think of anything. I don't think I will, besides I've already written several chapters after this. I'm thinking of changing the summary for what happens later, but we'll see. I might not, just out of laziness.**

Chapter 4

A few years passed without too many incidents. Percy would occasionally have another dream like the first one, but Poseidon never went back up to Olympus because of them. Partially because Zeus had said the subject was off limits, partly because he didn't think he should go every time he had one.

Besides the dreams, the only exciting thing to happen was Percy nearly beating Triton in a sparring match. Triton swore fiercely that he was going easy on the boy, but everyone who saw it disagreed. A ten year old boy nearly beating a three-thousand year old god was almost too much for the sea people to take seriously.

Poseidon loved to watch his sons interact with each other. It hadn't taken very long at all for them to really love each other. Amphitrite seemed to really like him as well. At the very least, she had gotten used to him.

At the moment, Percy was dueling Triton again, but in a private training room instead of the training yard outside. Triton didn't want anyone to be watching if Percy did end up beating him.

Slashing at the boy, Triton made sure that he wouldn't hurt the half-blood, but he still didn't go easy on him. But Percy moved out of the way so suddenly that the older boy didn't see it coming. In return, he received a nice sized gash in his side.

Triton didn't say anything, but Percy knew that the cut had hurt him, even if the water healed him right after. He smirked, which caused his brother to launch at him, intent on wiping the smirk off his face.

In the end, the swords ended up on opposite sides on the room and the boys were rolling around on the ground. This went on for several minutes, until laughter was heard from the doorway. The two boys broke apart to see their father standing in the doorway with an amused glint in his eyes.

"I see you two are having fun," he commented.

They grinned at him and got up to grab their weapons. Both were made of bronze. Percy's had a strange glow to it, and when he touched something to the tip of it, it shrunk down into a pen. On the side of it, it said: Anaklumsmos. Riptide it meant in Ancient Greek. Triton's wasn't considered a magic item but it did have a pearl in the pommel, along with some other jewels set throughout the hilt that said the sword belonged to someone important.

"I need you two to do something for me," Poseidon said once they were finished. "I need you to go check on the family of hippocampi that live over by the sunken ship."

"Sure, father. It'll be good to have something different to do today," Triton answered. Percy nodded in agreement. Poseidon smiled in thanks, then turned around and walked off. Triton turned to his half-brother. "Well, better get started, huh?"

It didn't take them long to leave the underwater palace, swimming somewhat leisurely toward the family of sea creatures that they were supposed to check on. They talked about random things just so they weren't silent.

They were almost at the sunken ship when the water seemed to get colder. They bother stopped, knowing that the water wouldn't change so suddenly like that on it's own. Everything looked normal so they just continued on, not that they had far to go anymore.

A few minutes later, they arrived at the place that the hippocampi had used for their home, but it appeared that no one was home. It didn't even look as if they had been here for quite a while. There was absolutely no sigh that anyone had been living here for several days.

The seaweed that they used food looked like it was overgrowing what it usually would have been. If they had any belongings, they were long gone. Definitely not what it had looked like the last time Percy had been here. Apparently, that's exactly what Triton thought because his had was wrapped firmly around the hilt of his sword.

The coldness seemed to be more pronounced here, and it was unsettling. Triton's eyes darted around the place, looking for some sort of danger, but, once again, there didn't seem to be any. He turned, studying every rock and strand of seaweed, making sure that there was nothing hiding anywhere around them.

A screech sounded behind him. Triton whirled around, but froze at what he saw. Percy was struggling in the grip of the person that had grabbed him. The man who had him was dressed in what would be considered something someone that was sulking around the back allies of New York City would be wearing: a gray hat that shaded his eyes with a gray trench coat to match and black boots. But it was someone Triton recognized all too well.

He unsheathed his sword. "Let him go, Oceanus."

The man looked over at Triton and laughed. "And how are you going to make me do that? There is no way you or your father will be able to stop me." His voice was so gleeful you would think he'd just won the lottery, if it weren't for the evil intentions.

Triton narrowed his eyes. There was no way he was going to let the old titan kidnap his brother, and if he tried to get his father it would be too late. He had to do it himself.

He willed the water around them to propel him toward the man, raising his sword. Oceanus had already turned his back, thinking that Triton wouldn't have enough guts to attack him, so Triton had a clear shot at his back.

The stab in his back made Oceanus scream, letting go of Percy in favor of trying to get the sword out of his back. Triton pulled it out as soon as he let go of Percy. The titan turned around, fury in his eyes, and a sword just appeared in his hands.

Percy scrabbled backwards, making sure that the man couldn't just grab him again. Triton seemed to be losing his fight pretty quickly, but Percy knew that he wouldn't be able to help.

Not that he needed to even try.

The water in front of him condensed and Poseidon stood there, fury written all over his face. The tips of his trident seemed to glow even brighter than they normally did. His presence made Oceanus stop in his fight with Triton, who was breathing hard.

"You dare show yourself?" Poseidon's voice was deathly calm, but the anger in it made the question even more of a threat.

Oceanus turned to face the god fully while Triton slowly made his way over to Percy. "This should be my realm, not yours."

"It is mine, which means I have every right to do what I want with you. Especially if you dare attempt to _kidnap_ my son." Toward the end of his speech, his voice raised several octaves.

They slowly walked toward each other, their weapons at the ready. Triton helped Percy to his feet, making sure he was okay. They both left the two immortals, using the currents to get back to the palace quicker than they had gotten there.

* * *

They sat in the throne room of the underwater palace, waiting for Poseidon to get back. When they had gotten back and told Amphitrite what had happen, she had looked stricken, even scared. She still did, and it had already been at least twenty minutes. They were all silent, not even knowing what to say. Percy sat in a corner with Triton not too far. Amphitrite sat in her throne, staring out the window.

No body that passed the throne room dared to disturb them. Their expressions were enough to tell them that they would be punished if they even made too much noise outside.

Finally, after half an hour of sitting in silence, Poseidon appeared in the throne room, only looking slightly less angry than when Percy and Triton had left him to fight Oceanus, but he was also wary. He glanced at his sons, sitting on the floor, then at his wife, sitting on her throne, looking hopeful.

"Is he gone?" she asked quietly, almost whispering.

Poseidon sighed. "For now. He will be back, though. So we must be careful." He glanced over at Percy and Triton. "It would be best if you two stayed inside for a while."

The boys nodded, not even wanting to back out after what happened. Poseidon looked around at his family, thinking of the future. Would they be able to get out of what was surely coming alive? _They would._ That was what he told himself. He couldn't even bear the thought of any of them being killed.

"They are stirring."

That was all he said before he disappeared again, to tell Zeus of their discovery. And a very terrible discovery it was.


	5. Getting Ready

**For those of you that think this is going a bit off of what the original plot was, well that was just a way for me to get Percy to live with Poseidon. But don't worry, its not going to go away. Its just not going to be mentioned very much because it has been several years since the beginning of this story, and Percy can't stay traumatized forever.**

Chapter 5

Ever since the day that Oceanus made his presence known, Percy rarely left the palace, but if he did, he didn't go far. Triton barely left, either, but he did leave more often than Percy.

Two years of being stuck in the palace were starting to wear on him. Percy wanted to get out and explore the world. Which was good since he would have to go to camp the next summer.

They were all sitting in the throne room, discussing how they would go about getting him there. Poseidon, Triton, and Percy wanted to do something fun while Amphitrite wanted to just take him there.

"We can just drop him off on the hill. There is no reason that we should make this more complicated than it is," she said, sounding exasperated.

"But why?" Triton asked. "They don't know that Percy has been living with us, do they? We might as well go along with that charade."

"But how?" Poseidon mused. Amphitrite rolled her eyes at him.

"I could go to a school where a satyr is and let them take me there," Percy suggested.

Triton nodded. "That's a good idea! But how are we going to keep the monsters from attacking you?"

Amphitrite threw her hands into the air—or was it water? "Thank you! Somebody sees my problem."

Triton's eyes lit up. "I know! I'll go with him. It won't stop it completely but it should help."

Amphitrite stared at him. "You want to go to school? And camp?" Her voice was incredulous, as if she couldn't believe such a notion.

He nodded. "Yeah! I've been bored lately and it sounds like fun. Plus it would help with the monsters. I could pretend to be his age so I don't stick out at camp, or the school. But what school should we go to?"

"You could be twins," Poseidon suggested, amused.

Amphitrite turned sharply toward him. "Don't encourage him!"

"Yeah! But fraternal or identical?" Triton mused, looking over at his brother.

"Fraternal. It would be really creepy having someone look exactly like me that isn't supposed to," Percy said. Triton pouted for a second, then shrugged.

"I guess. It would be harder to be identical anyway. But what would me name be? It can't be Triton. That's way more of an uncommon name than Perseus. But it will have to be like yours. But what?"

"Theseus might be a good name," Amphitrite said after a pause.

"Now who's encouraging them?" Poseidon asked, smirking at his wife.

She shrugged. "If you can't beat them, join them."

"That would be a good name. Now we just need to figure out where to go." Triton had a thoughtful look on his face.

They were all silent for a few minutes, during which a fight broke out in the courtyard between two mermen, but none of them go up to stop it, even though all of them could see it perfectly.

Finally, Amphitrite sighed. "Fine. I'll look for a school for you two to go to."

The two boys cheered as if the best thing on Earth had happened to them while their father laughed at them.

* * *

Deciding what to take into the mortal world was harder than it should have been. They started in Percy's room, knowing pretty much what he wanted to take, but it still took hours for the two brothers, Poseidon had to take care of something in the ocean, to get finished.

Of course, they weren't exactly focused very well.

They were still there when Amphitrite got back from looking at schools. They were talking about random things, like what was for dinner or what the best way to destroy a certain monster was

"You two are terrible at getting things done," she said from the doorway. She rolled her eyes at them when they looked over at her. "I found a school for you to go to where there will be a satyr. However, it is for juvenile delinquents."

They both looked offended by that.

"Are you implying something?" Triton asked, arching an eyebrow.

His mother smiled at him. "If you two are going to pretend to have lived in the mortal world for the past twelve years, you are going to have to seem like you are troubled kids since you are powerful demigods. Or at least one of you is a demigod."

Triton shook his head. "Troubled kids," he muttered to himself. "I prefer the term special."

Percy snorted. "Extremely special."

Triton glared at him while his stepmother grinned at him. Even with him glaring at him, Percy couldn't help but feel grateful that Triton was going with him. He hadn't been to land since he was seven, and he didn't exactly have good memories of it.

He wasn't sure what he would do if he had to do it alone. Sure, he already knew what the people at camp would think would be new to him. But he had been living under the ocean for the past five years and he knew it would be weird and a bit hard to be around humans again. He just hoped that the memories didn't resurface again.

They finished packing Percy's room, this time with Amphitrite's help. When they got near Triton's room, he remembers that his mother was with them and got extremely nervous. She was not going to like what she saw.

When Amphitrite opened the door, she froze. Clothes were strewn all over the place, along with other items that didn't belong on the floor. It looked like a giant sea serpent had attacked. It was much worse than Percy's room, and his had looked pretty bad at first.

"Triton," she said in a forced, calm voice. "What happened in here?"

Triton looked like a deer caught in the headlights while Percy was looking like he was having trouble with trying not to laugh.

"Nothing, mother."

She glared at him. "Nothing? That isn't nothing. I told you to keep your room clean. This"—she gestured wildly at the room—"is not clean by anyone's dictionary."

"Maybe the hippocampi had a party in there and he hasn't had a chance to clean up," Percy suggested, completely failing at being helpful.

Triton nodded, hoping that his mother would accept the improbable story. But all hope was lost when she shook her head at the suggestion. Why couldn't she just let it go? He would be leaving soon anyway.

Amphitrite sighed. "We'll talk about this later. We should just get you packed right now. You two are leaving in the morning."

The boys grinned at her, then they all got to work on getting the brothers ready for school.

**This one is a bit random, but it is also a filler chapter, but it needed to be here. **


	6. School

Chapter 6

The next morning, all four of them stood in the courtyard, the boys' luggage at their feet. They couldn't wait to get to the surface world. But their parents were starting to worry about them leaving home, even though they would be coming on the next fall.

Or at least Amphitrite was starting to worry. Poseidon was going with them to make sure everything was settled for them at the school, and he was even a bit excited about it, even though he wasn't staying.

After two quick hugs, a couple warnings, and several typical, motherly sending-away-their-kid comments, they were finally on their way. Poseidon transported them to the mainland. But they still had to walk several blocks to get to the school, which was called Yancy.

Triton had transformed himself to look the same age as Percy so they could pass as fraternal twins. Poseidon changed his features slightly in case they encountered the satyr while he was there.

Registration took a while, but they finally managed to get the boys a dorm. Poseidon didn't stay long after that, telling them to be good and "have fun", winking after the last part.

Percy and Triton didn't spend much time on unpacking, just threw their clothes in the dresser and everything else on their beds. After that, they went to go look around the school they would have to go to until summer.

There were many people out in the halls, most with bags. The others were parents, either walking their children to their dorm or leaving them there, the rest were kids that were doing exactly what the two brothers were doing.

They were almost finished with going around the school once when they saw a scrawny looking kid on crutches coming out of a dorm that was next to theirs.

"Satyr," Triton said, too low for anyone but Percy to hear. He wondered if the satyr would be able to figure out that he wasn't a demigod, or that their scent was so strong because they already knew who they were.

As they approached him, the satyr looked up at them, and his eyes bulged, looking like they would fall out of their sockets, with surprise.

"Hey," he greeted as they got close.

"Hi," Percy replied.

"You guys new this year?" They nodded. "Cool. I'm Grover."

"Theesay."

"Percy."

Percy and Triton quickly made friends with the satyr, like they had much of a choice. He was rather nervous at first, but he soon relaxed around the two brothers. They hung out in Grover's room, which he somehow managed to get by himself. Lucky.

They made up stories about their life so they could made the charade believable, but they kept it as close to the truth as possible so the satyr didn't find them out. They were pretty sure that Grover was doing the same since he obviously didn't live a normal, human life.

At the end of the day, they were all pretty much best friends already.

Nothing interesting happened for the next week. They had class, which Triton had declared was the most boring thing he had ever had to endure in his entire life time, they hung out with Grover, and just tried to act mortal. Not necessarily normal because that would have been pushing their acting abilities a bit.

The following Monday, however, that got harder when their original Latin teacher disappeared, not that the mortals noticed anything, and was replaced by a middle-aged man in a wheelchair.

When they walked into class that day, Triton stiffened slightly, but he tried no to show it. How could he have forgotten that? He always helps when the half-blood has a possibility of being a child of the big three.

The man in the wheelchair watched them curiously, but didn't seem to notice who Triton was. He just led the class as if he'd been there the week before and already knew everyone, though he did slip up on names more than if he had been there the previous week.

* * *

Around Christmas time, they stayed at the school, finding it easier than going back to the ocean. They weren't the only ones, but there wasn't anyone either of them liked.

Right after the winter solstice, the weather got extremely bad, telling them that something had happened between the gods. But when they Iris messaged Amphitrite about it, she refused to tell the, saying that they should just enjoy themselves. As much as possible.

For several weeks, they tried not to think about it, but it didn't work completely, especially since the weather didn't seem to be getting any better. There was also a new teacher that showed up, who just so happened to be a monster.

They tried to act normal, with three other non-mortals watching them, they were having a hard time of it.

"One more week!" Triton exclaimed on the Sunday before their last week at school. "I really don't get how you people can do this every year."

Percy shook his head. "Don't look at me. I haven't done it for a long time. I'm just glad that it's almost done."

Someone knocked on the door. Percy got up to answer it. Grover hobbled in the door soon after.

"What's up, guys?"

"Nothing," Triton replied form where he was laying down on his bed. The other two boys flopped down on Percy's bed.

"Ready for the week of exams?"

Triton groaned again, and Percy laughed at him, even though he agreed with him. The finals really weren't going to be fun. At all. Both of them would love it if they could just leave before they had to take them.

"I take that for a no."

"Pretty much," Percy said. "Of course, it doesn't help when you can barely read what the question says."

Triton nodded in agreement. "How long these tests anyway?"

Grover thought for a second. "Around three hours, I think."

"WHAT!" Triton exclaimed, sitting up and staring at the satyr incredulously. "How can they be _three hours_? Oh, kill me now." He fell back on the bed, hitting his head on the wall with a muffled "ow".

_Good luck with that_, Percy thought. Triton couldn't be killed, even though he was only a minor god. It would be really interesting to see someone try.

Grover laughed. "Yeah, I know. I really don't see why they have to make the tests so long. But they did, and I guess we have to deal with it."

Percy sighed. He wished he didn't have to take the tests before going to camp, but there really wasn't anything he could do about it. At least it would be over soon.

* * *

Against all odds, they finally made it to the end of the day on their last day. They had just finished the Latin final, and were now making their way back to their dorm to get their stuff.

However, their monster math teacher intercepted them and said she wanted to talk to Percy alone. Triton immediately looked cautious, but he knew better than to protest. It would have looked too suspicious, and Percy could take care of himself long enough for Triton to get in there and help.

Percy followed her into the classroom. All of the desks were empty, which wasn't surprising. The demon teacher stared at him through narrowed eyes.

"We gave you a chance, honey. You have failed."

Now he was just confused. What was she talking about? "… I'm sorry, Mrs. Dodds?"

"Tell us where it is and you will not suffer for eternity."

"What—"

"Too late!"

The monster started to change into an ugly hag with wings. She growled at him. Percy froze. He may have already known about monsters, but he hadn't really faced them at all. And this one wasn't exactly the best to fight for your first time fighting alone.

He backed up, pulled out Riptide. The monster's growling got louder, and she lunged at him. He leapt to the side to try and avoid its claws. She didn't expect it and crashed into the cabinets above the counter.

The faucet caught his eyes, and a plan formed in his head. There was a familiar tug in his gut, and the faucet exploded. The monster got hit by the full force of the torrent of water coming from the sink, stunning it for a second.

Percy rushed forward, raising his sword above his head. The monster lunged at him again, but this time Percy didn't move out of the way. Slashing Riptide though the air, golden dust fell around him.

He stared at it for a second, then capped his sword and quickly went back into the hall. Triton was nowhere to be seen, but he quickly ran into Grover.

The satyr's eyes widened. "Are you okay?"

Percy nodded, still looking around for his brother. "Where's Tri—uh, Theesay?"

Grover shook his head. "I don't know, but come on. We have to go."

"Go where?" Percy asked, trying to sound confused and scared at the same time but not sure it was working.

Grover didn't answer him. Instead, he started to hobble in the direction of their dorm rooms. Percy kept asking what he was talking about, but he never got an answer.

When they go to Percy's dorm, the door was ajar. Percy pushed the door open to see Triton talking to their wheelchair bound Latin teacher. Triton had a confused expression on his face.

"Thanks for ditching me," Percy said when he walked in.

Triton smiled sheepishly at him, then his eyes narrowed suspiciously. "What happened? You look a bit pale."

The Latin teacher turned around, concern written all over his face. His eyes glanced between Percy and Grover, who looked extremely frightened.

"I think it's time to go. Gather your things, boys, but be quick about it. We have to go now."

"Go where?" Percy and Triton asked at the same time. Apparently Percy wasn't the only one to keep up his cover.

"Don't worry, you will be safe there. We will explain on the way."

**Theesay is Tritons's nickname for going by Theseus. I didn't want him to go by his full name and have Percy not. And it was really the only thing I could think of.  
**


	7. Camp

Chapter 7

"You're telling us that the Greek Gods are real, and that one of our parents is one of them?" Triton asked, trying to sound cautious, like he didn't believe them. Though it was rather hard since he didn't want to offend any of the gods, but he also didn't want to give away that he and his brother already knew this.

Once they had finished packing up their stuff, a van that said something about a strawberry company picked them up. Percy had only gotten a glance at the driver, but he saw that there was several eyes embedded in his skin all over his body, and that was only were his clothes didn't cover it up.

The Latin teacher nodded. "Precisely."

Percy and Triton exchanged a glance. "And who are you, exactly?" Percy asked, already knowing the answer since Triton had already told him. But the centaur had neglected to tell them yet, so he felt it prudent to ask.

The teacher looked surprised. "I forgot to tell you? No matter. I am Chiron, the activities director at Camp Half-Blood."

They nodded, both trying to pretend not to know this already. Grover smiled at them with sympathy. He knew what demigods went through when they found out what they were, and thought this wasn't going to be easy for them.

"Don't worry. Most people have a hard time accepting it. But now you will be with people that are like you," he said.

Percy was about to reply with some sarcastic comment when the van stopped moving. Chiron smiled, then rolled over to the back door of the van. He used the wheelchair lift to get down to the ground.

Everyone climbed out after him. They pulled their belongings out after them. Percy turned to looked at the camp, then froze.

"Oh, wow."

The camp was the most beautiful thing on dry land Percy had ever seen. The buildings were all of Greek architecture. There was a big farm house, a lake with canoes on it, a strawberry field, a forest, and twelve cabins standing in a "U". The beach was on the far side of the camp, with the glittering water lapping at the sand. But it also seemed as if something was wrong with the water. It looked slightly agitated, as if it was forced to be calm.

"Amazing, isn't it?" Chiron asked.

Percy nodded, turning toward him, but he stopped in surprise again. Triton had told him what Chiron was, but he had never seen a centaur before. Chiron was a white stallion with the torso of a man. A bit surprising no matter if you knew before you saw it for the first time or not.

Chiron grinned at his surprised expression, but didn't comment on his appearance. "Come on. Let's go meet Mr. D." He and Grover started down the hill.

Percy looked back at his brother, who looked like he was about to burst out laughing. "This should be fun," he muttered too low for anyone else to hear.

When they go to the big house, they found a chubby man in a Hawaiian shirt sitting at a table playing some card game with invisible opponents. Grover instantly looked nervous and hung back next to the two brothers.

"Percy, Theesay, this is Mr. D, the camp director," Chiron introduced everyone.

The chubby man looked up, clearly bored. "Oh, great. New brats to take care of." He eyed the two boys. His eyes stopped on Triton, narrowed suspiciously, then looked away as if there was nothing out of the ordinary.

Triton wondered if he had figured out who he was, but he would be surprised if he did. He probably wouldn't really notice things very well with his wine withdrawal symptoms.

Percy turned toward Chiron. "What exactly is this place? Why do you think that there are gods?"

Mr. D snorted. "Of course you wouldn't know. You humans think you have come so far. None of you realize that you have actually done very little. _We_ are the ones that invent everything."

Percy and Triton glanced at each other. Surely _he_ didn't invent anything besides wine.

Mr. D glanced up. "Why are you two looking at me like that? Don't you know that it's rude to stare?"

"Who are you exactly?" Triton asked, sounding skeptical, with very little acting. Evidently, he didn't care about offending _this_ god. "You make it sound like you think you're one of them."

"You should be careful, boy. If you disrespect the wrong person, you may not live to apologize for it." Even as he said it, the camp director looked slightly disappointed, but resigned.

"Why? How? Why can't you people just tell us what's going on?" Percy asked.

"But we did, guys. We already explained about the gods. It's all real, we aren't playing a trick on you guys. Mr. D is the god of wine, Dionysus," Grover explained, sounding almost pleading.

Percy and Triton glanced at each other again, but neither of them said anything. They didn't want to seem completely dense, plus they couldn't really think of anything else to say. Mr. D looked exasperated.

"You two might want to just lose your stupid ideas of you world. They are wrong. And if you don't, the other brats will tear you apart," he said, sounding almost gleeful, even though he didn't look up from his cards.

Chiron shook his head, but ignored him. "Come on, boys. Let's go meet your new peers."

They walked throughout the camp. Grover had walked away to join his satyr buddies while Chiron showed the, the arts and crafts building, the forge, the canoeing lake, the open air mess hall, and everything else in the camp, explaining what they were for and what you could do in each place. The campers watched them curiously, probably wondering who they were.

The cabins were a group of extremely bazaar looking buildings. Each had a different theme going, representing each Olympian god, except for a brass number above each door. One had a smoke stack, another looked entirely gold, and a different one looked like the red paint was thrown on my the bucket.

As they passed it, Percy looked at a green, low build cabin that looked like it had been carved out of the ocean floor. Cabin three. Poseidon's cabin.

"Awesome," Triton breathed. Percy nodded in agreement.

Chiron smiled at them, then led them to the last of the cabins on what seemed to be the male god said. Cabin eleven looked more like a traditional camping cabin. It looked so run down that it wasn't hard to tell that a lot of people lived in there.

The door opened, and a curly-haired, blond girl stepped out of the building, followed by a tall guy with sandy blond hair and a scar on his face. When they saw the group heading their way, they walked over, smiling.

"Hey, Chiron. Who's this?" the girl asked. She had stormy gray eyes that Percy couldn't help but stare at.

"Percy, Theesay, this is Annabeth Chase and Luke Castellan, the counselors of the Athena and Hermes cabins. Luke will be your counselor until you both are claimed by your godly parent," Chiron explained.

"How long does that usually take?" Triton asked.

Annabeth smiled sadly "Sometimes it never does. Others, quickly."

Chiron pretended not to hear either of them. "Annabeth, would you mind taking over for me? I have a class."

Annabeth nodded. "Sure." After he galloped off, she turned back to the boys. "Why don't we go introduce you to the Hermes cabin, then we can take a walk or something and I can answer your questions."

The inside of cabin eleven looked like an evacuation center. There really wasn't any floor showing. Triton cringed at the thought of sleeping in there. He was really missing his underwater palace room right about now.

"Listen up, guys," Luke said, catching everyone's attention. "This is Percy and Theesay. They will be staying with us for now, so make them feel welcome."

There was a bunch of "hey"s and "hi"s from around the room. Some of the people looked extremely depressed, while the rest looked rather mischievous, like they had just pulled a prank or something.

Luke turned to Percy and Triton, then pointed to the corner of the room. "You two can sleep there for now."

They dropped their suitcases in the spot, not really caring that their stuff would most likely get stolen, then followed Annabeth back outside. They walked in silence for a while as Percy and Triton were still looking around.

But, finally, Percy broke the silence. "Why does it take so long to get claimed?"

Annabeth paused, then sighed. "Because sometimes they just don't care about is. They have other things to take care of than to be bothered with us."

Triton narrowed his eyes. _I didn't know it was that bad._ Percy looked equally miffed about it. Their eyes met, both seeming to think the same thing. Why would the gods be like that?

"You two seem to be taking this pretty easily," Annabeth commented.

The two brothers paused, glancing at each other. It might be a bit hard hiding their secret from a daughter of Athena.

"Um … we don't exactly believe you, but we're willing to go along with it," Percy said, trying not to make it obvious that it was a lie. Triton nodded in agreement.

Her eyes narrowed suspiciously, but she let it slide, for the most part. "You're going to have to start believing if you want to survive here. You can't just go running back to your mommy every time something goes wrong."

Percy's eyes hardened. Like he would ever run back to his mom at all. There was nothing he wanted to do with that woman any more. He hoped she was dead. Triton saw the look in his eyes, and decided to say something before Annabeth said something about it.

"You say that like we're going to die if we don't believe," he observed.

She shrugged. "It's believe of die around here."

Percy shook off his hostile feelings and pushed the mommy comment to the back of his mind. He glanced warily at the training arena as they were passing it, which had a couple people sparring in it. He was suddenly gripped with the desire to practice his sword skills. "It looks like you can die even if you do believe."

Her eyes grew sad, and she glanced at the largest hill around them. It was on the far side of the camp, past the big house, and there was a large pine tree on it.

"That is very possible, even likely. Outside the borders, monsters roam the world, looking for us. Our blood attracts them, and the stronger we are, the more monsters we attract. Because of that, we hardly ever live to adulthood."

Percy followed her gaze, a bit sad at that notion. "I take it you lost someone?"

Annabeth glared at him. "It's none of your business!"

He lifted his hands in surrender. "Okay, okay. No need to get so defensive. I didn't ask the question very well. I'm sorry."

She continued to glare at him, but nodded stiffly, accepting his apology. "You better be careful. Unlike school, we don't get in trouble for fights."

"Hey, look, fresh meat!" a voice rang out from across the field.

A buff looking girl, followed by two other girls, walked out of the badly painted red cabin. They walked over to the group, pushing aside Annabeth to stand in front of Percy and Triton.

"Don't you have something better to do, Clarisse?" Annabeth asked.

Clarisse sneered at her. "Stay out of this, princess. Now, who are these two?"

"Percy and Theesay. Guys, this is Clarisse, daughter of Ares," Annabeth replied, abet reluctantly.

"The war god?" Triton asked, sounding a bit wary, but anyone could tall that it was fake.

"Yeah. You got a problem with that?" Clarisse narrowed her eyes at him.

"No. It just explains the smell," Percy answered for his half-brother, taking all the heat for himself.

The girl let out an angry battle cry, then she and her sisters charged them. Percy and Triton dodged to either side, nearly avoiding getting maimed. The girls split up, Clarisse going after Percy, the other two girls going after Triton.

Percy ended up near the bathrooms, slowly backing away from the girl. He glanced around for something he could use to protect himself, preferably water so he didn't end up giving away their cover.

While he was looking away, Clarisse rushed forward and grabbed him. She dragged him into the girl's bathroom while he pretended to struggle. He wasn't all the happy about using this water, but there really wasn't any other option.

Clarisse dragged him toward the toilets, then she started to try and get his head in the toilet. As soon as she started to do that, there was a tug in his gut and the water arched up out of the toilet, over his head and hit Clarisse in the face.

All of the piped in the bathroom seemed to rupture and water shot out of all the toilets, sinks, and showers. The girl screamed as she was pushed out the door. Percy followed, making sure to keep an astonished expression on his face.

Just as he got to the door, the water lifted without him telling it to, and threw itself at the other two girls. It was only then that Percy realized that Triton was standing right outside the bathroom door.

"Hey, look, Percy! They don't smell so bad anymore!" Triton exclaimed happily, trying not to be too loud, but it was clear from her narrowed eyes that Annabeth had heard him.

The Ares girls all looked murderous and let out an even more angry scream than when the fight had started. It took several campers from the crowd that had formed to hold them back and drag them, kicking and screaming, back to their cabin.

Annabeth walked up to them. "How did you do that?"

They glanced at each other. "I don't know," they said in unison.

She looked extremely suspicious, but also as if she were thinking up a plan. She stared at them, her gray eyes sparkling dangerously.

"What are you thinking?" Percy asked.

She smiled at him. "That I would like you two to be on my team of capture the flag."

Percy and Triton glanced at each other, clearly wondering what she was planning.


	8. Hellhound Attack

Chapter 8

After the bathroom incident, it didn't take long for Percy and Triton to go back to the Hermes cabin. Annabeth never lost the calculating look in her eyes, which was starting to freak them out. She looked pretty scary when she stared at them, unblinkingly, with her stormy gray eyes sizing them up.

On the way to cabin eleven, they passed by cabin three. The seashells seemed to glow in the late afternoon light, seeming extremely inviting. They stopped in front of it.

"You think we could get away with sneaking out to sleep in there?" Triton asked.

Percy snorted. "Neither of us gets up early enough for that to work."

"You don't think Dad would help us?"

Percy laughed. "I think he would be laughing his head off instead of helping us, much like I will be if you do it and get caught."

Triton stuck his tongue out at him at they started to walk again. The Hermes campers were joking around, but there was some that looked forlorn and sad.

Percy and Triton walked over to the spot they had been given. Sitting down, they watched everyone else. After a while, two guys who looked like identical twins, except for a slight height difference, came over to them.

"Hey! What's up?" one of them asked.

Percy shook his head. "Nothing much."

The other one nodded. "Cool. I'm Conner Stoll."

"Travis Stoll," the other one put it.

Triton snorted at their last name, but didn't say anything. It was just like Hermes to have an affair with someone that had a last name like that. "Are you two twins?"

They shook their heads. "No. I'm older," Conner said.

"No you're not! I'm older," Travis countered.

The Stoll brothers started to fight about who was older, just going back and forth, saying the same thing every time. Percy and Triton just sat there, watching them, even if it was getting really annoying. Randomly, Percy wondered if they could go on like this forever, or if they would just, all of the sudden, start saying something else.

Finally, a conch shell sounded and everyone got up for dinner. At the dinning pavilion, everyone sat down according to their parentage, except for the unclaimed, who sat at the Hermes table. Nymphs, dryads, naiads, and satyrs also came from the forest and the canoeing lake to join in for dinner.

After food appeared on the table and everyone piled food on their plates, everyone got up and formed a line to the fire that was in the middle of the room, taking their food with them. Percy and Triton followed them.

"Offerings to the gods," Luke, who was standing in front of Triton, explained. Triton started to nod like this was obvious, but then stopped when he remembered that he wasn't supposed to know this already, or be one himself.

When Triton dropped part of his dinner into the fire, Percy noticed a hopeful look on his face, which quickly melted into disappointment. Percy wondered what he was doing.

He quickly dropped part of his food into the fire, quietly saying his father's name before walking back to the Hermes table. The rest of dinner and the sing along afterwards pasted smoothly, even if Mr. D did make a horrible welcome speech. But it was only on the walk back to the cabins that Percy could ask Triton what he had been doing without anyone else around to hear their conversation.

"I was seeing if it would work or not if I sacrificed something to myself," he explained, looking disappointed again. "It didn't work."

Percy snorted. "I wonder why."

"Hey! It was a perfectly good idea."

"Whatever you say, dude. Whatever you say."

* * *

The next day, Percy and Triton went around camp with the Hermes cabin. So far, Percy hadn't even had to fake on anything they had done. Archery he naturally sucked at, beating the nymphs in a race was impossible, even if he'd had more practice in running, and canoeing just didn't seem worth faking, especially if he was going to be claimed by Poseidon.

But now they were going to sword practice, so knew he would have to fake now. The campers just didn't know how to train in terrain where you could easily lose contact with the ground and still be able to strike back just as easily. Which was hard to do at first.

The Hermes cabin paired up with each other. Luke was Percy's partner, saying that he would like to know where his skill level was, while Triton was paired with another experienced camper. They started off with simple moves. Percy had to fake his skill level, but without making him look completely useless with a sword. Which was slightly hard.

Finally, everyone gathered around Luke for a demonstration of the disarming maneuver. He explained what it was and how it was performed.

"This is a hard move to master. Percy, would you mind helping me?" Luke asked.

Triton snickered and pushed Percy into the middle of the group to join Luke. Most everyone around him laughed a little bit.

They went through the moves once in slow motion. After that, in real time. Percy decided he didn't want to lose again, so at the end of the fight, it was Luke's sword that was on the ground.

Percy had to stop himself from snorting at everyone's astonished expressions. _It's harder in the water._

They were surprised. Extremely surprised. So when they did it again, Percy made sure he didn't win again, but he didn't lose by much.

Finally, after dinner, everyone was extremely excited. They were going to play capture the flag. The Athena and Ares cabins were leading the teams. They ran around the center of the pavilion, holding the flags high above their heads.

As the game began, Percy and Triton were left by the creek, several feet apart from each other. Percy leaned against a tree in boredom, staring at the water. Triton had half a mind to just sit in the creek. It had been too long since he had submerged himself in water and it was starting to get to him.

"Why do you think they left us here?" Percy asked.

Triton shrugged. "I don't know. I wish that I knew what Annabeth planned."

Percy nodded in agreement, but before he could say anything, growling came from behind him. He spun around to find himself face-to-face with a gigantic hellhound.

Triton cursed in Ancient Greek and ran over to him while Percy slowly backed into the water. The hellhound followed them, it's eyes full of hate, it's muzzle wrinkled in a snarl.

"Chiron!"

The scream came from behind them, and it sounded extremely alarmed. The brothers ignored it, knowing that it was one of the campers. But the hellhound's growling just got louder, especially when Annabeth suddenly appeared next to Percy.

The big, black dog lunged at them, but they all dodged, separating at the same time. It's head whipped between the three of them, trying to figure out which one to go after.

"Theesay, attack it on its left. Percy, its right. I'll try to get it from behind," Annabeth called out, quickly moving to go behind the hellhound.

Percy and Triton did what she said without question, not seeing the need to argue at the moment. As they rushed to their respective sides, the monster decided that it wanted Percy the most.

It tried to keep him in its sight while Percy kept moving. Its muscles tensed, and it leaned toward him slightly. But it turned quickly toward its left and snapped at the person there.

Triton stared at the hellhound fearlessly. How dare it go after his little brother! This stupid hellhound wasn't going to get away with its life.

He raised his sword slowly, making sure that its eyes were solely on him. Much more quickly than he had raised it, Triton slashed the sword at the monster's neck. It wouldn't have done much damaged if Percy and Annabeth hadn't both attacked its flank. His sword sunk into its side just as their weapons distracted it.

As it moved to confront the new threat, the hellhound hit Triton with his flank, sending him flying into Percy. They both landed in the creek just as a volley of arrows hit the hellhound in the neck, making it explode into golden dust.

"Thanks for cushioning my fall, little brother!" Triton said.

"Get off of me."

The older boy rolled off his brother to sit in the water beside him. Annabeth, who had a stricken expression, ran over to them to make sure that they were okay. The pounding of hooves could be heard before Chiron burst out of the trees.

"Are you three okay?"

They all nodded, but it was Annabeth that said something.

"That was a hellhound from the fields of punishment. How did it get in here?"

By this time, the rest of the camp gathered around them. Percy, Triton, and Annabeth, who had sat down beside Percy, didn't bother to stand up. "It was summoned! It had to be. There's no other way," Annabeth exclaimed before anyone could answer her previous question.

"Percy probably did it," Clarisse suggested conversationally. "He probably thought it would make him look good."

Percy glared at her, but didn't fell like fighting with her. Even if she was wrong.

As everyone contemplated what was said, a green light suddenly lit up the forest. Everyone besides Percy and Triton gasped.

Floating about their heads was a glowing, sea-green trident. But Triton's had a pearl in the crossing of the trident, where the tips break off from the staff. No one noticed.

The campers, even Annabeth, kneeled as Chiron called out, "All hail, Perseus and Theseus Jackson, sons of Poseidon, god of the seas, father of horses, stormbringer, earthshaker!"


	9. Missing Weapons

Chapter 9

It didn't take long for everyone to go back to their cabins, the game forgotten. After they grabbed their stuff out of the Hermes cabin, Chiron showed Percy and Triton the Poseidon cabin.

"A bed!" Triton exclaimed after Chiron left. "A sweet, comfortable bed!"

Percy rolled his eyes at him. "Can't handle sleeping on the floor for just one night, Triton?"

"What? Can I not be happy? This is almost as good as sleeping in the ocean. … maybe I should do that sometime. It's been way too long since I have."

A sea breeze filled the room, followed closely by a bright, green light, causing Percy to close his eyes. When he opened them again, Amphitrite was standing before them.

"Mom!" the boys exclaimed.

She smiled, but it looked a bit sad. "Hello, boys. I see that you two managed to survive on the surface world."

"Of course we did," Triton boasted. He started to flex his muscles. "No monster would be able to survive me. They're too scared after they meet me that they never want to come back."

Percy snorted. "When was the last time you fought a monster?"

"Exactly! They just don't want to come near me. Even the one you fought."

"Oh, whatever. You ditched me!"

"Triton! You should know better than to leave your brother to fight on his own," Amphitrite scolded. Triton looked sheepish. "Percy, what was the monster?"

"A fury."

Amphitrite's eyes widened, then she turned sharply toward Triton. "You left him with a FURY?"

"I didn't know what it was!" Triton looked scared, but there was wonder in his eyes as she stared at Percy. "How did you kill it?"

Percy told them the story of the fight in the classroom. When he finished, Amphitrite sat down beside him on his bed and hugged him.

"I'm sorry for leaving you there, Percy. I thought it was just some monster that wanted to know who we were," Triton said sincerely.

Percy just shrugged it off. Neither of them knew what she was beforehand. He turned to look at his step-mother. "Is there something wrong, mom?"

She sighed. "Something terrible and war-inducing." She paused, looking at her two sons, who both indicated that they wanted her to go on. "And you two may be the only ones that can stop it."

"Mother, please, stop being dramatic. What happened?" Triton asked, looking frustrated that she was taking so long to tell them, and skeptical that they were the only ones to stop a probable war.

"Your father's trident was stolen on the winter solstice."

Their eyes widened with shock. "WHAT!"

Amphitrite continued as if she hadn't heard them. "And Hades just came not too long ago to tell Poseidon that his Helm of Darkness is also missing. They both blame Zeus, even though Hades hasn't made it known that the helm is missing."

"And they want us to find them?" Percy asked warily.

"Yes. Hades was talking about finding something in Los Vegas. I'm not sure what he wants, though. You two should talk to Chiron tomorrow morning about this. Get him to give you the quest."

The boys nodded, still looking perplexed. She smiled at them, then disappeared into a green, misty light.

* * *

The next morning, the boys slowly made their way up to the big house, trying to think of a way to ask Chiron about the weapons. As they passed him, Grover walked up to them and joined their trek to the big house.

When they made it, Chiron was in the kitchen making breakfast. Mr. D was nowhere to be seen.

"Hello, boys. What can I do for you?" Chiron asked when they walked in.

Percy and Triton both hesitated. How were they supposed to get the quest without giving themselves away? They really should have thought this through before they had come up here.

"We're worried about the weather. It's been rather strange lately, and now that we know that the gods are real, we think there is something going on," Triton supplied. Percy almost wanted to smack himself on the forehead; if it wasn't for that he couldn't think of anything better.

Surprise flickered across his face for a split second before realization set in. "Of course you two would notice something."

Grover looked confused. "How would they know?"

"Think about it, Grover. Their father is Poseidon. It is his realm that is being affected. It is the only explanation that they would feel that something was wrong. Is that right, boys?"

Percy and Triton quickly nodded while Grover also nodded, but in understanding. They were glad that he came up with that because they definitely would have been screwed. They wouldn't have known what to say if he hadn't.

Chiron sighed. "I suppose I should tell you. On the winter solstice, your father and his brothers got into a fight. Mostly it was Poseidon and Hades arguing with Zeus that their mother like Zeus the best and all of the regular stuff. After the meeting, Poseidon noticed that his trident was missing and immediately blamed Zeus, which started another fight. Zeus claims that he would never try to steal the trident, but Poseidon doesn't believe him."

"What will happen if it isn't returned soon?" Percy asked cautiously, even though he already knew.

"A civil war between the gods. The rest forced to choose sides. It is doubtful that Hades will join one of his brothers, so it will most likely turn into a three way war."

The boys didn't believe that. From what Amphitrite had told them, Hades would most likely join their father in this war. But a war would still be very bad. Best to stop it before it started.

"Then shouldn't someone find it?" Triton asked, really not liking that it was his father's weapon that was taken.

Chiron nodded. "But I can't send you two. It's too dangerous, and you two have just gotten here. You have next to no training.

"But we have to help!" Percy protested.

"Yeah! If they go on this quest, maybe I can get my searcher's license," Grover put in, causing everyone to look at him funny, then ignore him.

"If you go out there now, it is likely that you will be killed," Chiron tried to reason with them, but it wasn't working very well.

Mr. D chose that moment to walk into the room. "Oh, let them go. Maybe the monsters will rid me of them." He glanced around at everyone staring at him. "What are we talking about, anyway?"

"The theft," Chiron said simply.

Dionysus nodded. "Let them go. If they want to risk their lives to stop a war, I say let them."

"They don't have enough training!" Chiron said again, but he was starting to sound defeated.

"Please, Chiron?" Percy begged, trying to make him give in. "We can being friends with us, can't we?"

The horse man sighed. "Fine. Percy, Theesay, you can go on this quest. Just go up the stairs to the attic, now, and consult the oracle."

Both boys got up and followed Grover to the attic. The Satyr didn't go up with them. The Attic smelled horrible. But even so, there was some cool stuff in there, but the mummy in the corner kind of ruined it.

It was dressed in hippy clothes with a bunch of bead necklaces around its neck. Percy walked over to it cautiously, slightly freaked out by the state of the oracle.

Suddenly, she leaned forward, green smoke billowing out of her mouth. _I am the spirit of Delphi, speaker of the prophecies of Phoebus Apollo, slayer of the mighty Python. Approach, seeker, and ask._

Percy was even more freaked out than before, but wasn't going to show weakness. "How do I retrieve the weapons of Poseidon and Hades?"

_Travel west to face the god that has turned._

_Save the ones lost in the flower._

_Find the weapons of power,_

_Though not in the way you wish._

_Deceived by someone you call a friend._

_To stop a war,_

_But discover a new threat._

The green smoke went back into the mummy's mouth, leaving Percy standing in front of it, dread filling his entire body. That didn't sound good at all. And when he turned around, Triton's distressed expression said he agreed with him.

They walked back to the kitchen in silence, both trying to figure out what the prophesy had meant.

When they had gotten to the kitchen, everyone was waiting for them. Or, at least Chiron and Grover was waiting for them. Dionysus was browsing through a wine magazine. But Percy felt as if they were being watched.

Chiron looked at them expectantly. "What did the oracle say?"

The brothers told him, hesitantly, still wondering exactly what they would go through. One line in particular bothered them the most.

"Well. That certainly is interesting. Don't worry about it too much; prophesies usually aren't clear until they play out. But at least we know where you are going," Chiron said, looking worried.

Percy furrowed his eyebrows. "Where?"

"Who stands to gain from this war? Who's kingdom would expand if his brothers went to war?"

They stared blankly at him. They knew who he was trying to lead them to, but if he was an ally of their father's, they didn't want to offend him.

Grover's face paled. "Wh-what? Please tell me that's not who I think it is."

Chiron nodded gravely. "Hades, Lord of the Underworld. He is the only explanation. Gods can't steal each other's weapons, but a hero can get it for them. The only question is who he got to do it for him."

"Where is the underworld?" Percy asked.

Chiron looked surprised. "Why, I thought you knew. The underworld is in Los Angeles."

He nodded, watching Grover chew nervously on silverware. "You don't have to come, Grover."

The satyr looked up. "Oh, right. Why would you want me along? I'm useless anyway."

Triton sighed. "Do you want to? It would help you get your searcher's licenses. You _can_ come."

He brightened up. "Really! I won't let you down. … but do we really have to go to the Underworld?"

Chiron ignored him. "You may pick one more member to join you on this quest. Normally, only three members go on a quest, but I have a feeling that you will need another person along with you."

There was a slight shuffling from behind the centaur. Percy and Triton glanced at each other, but no one else seemed to hear it.

"Just as long as it's not an Athena child," Triton said seriously.

There was an angry gasp, then Annabeth appeared behind Chiron with a Yankees baseball hat in her hand, an angry expression on her face.

"How dare you! I know more about this world than you to. You need me on this quest."

"No, we don't. We can very well take care of yourselves without your—"

"Sure," Percy cut Triton off. Triton looked at him like he was crazy. "You can come with us."

"But—" Triton tried to protest.

"Who asked for the prophesy?" Chiron asked.

"Percy," Triton grumbled.

"Then Percy should be the one to choose the quest members. But I suggest that you choose someone that everyone can get along with."

Percy glared at Triton, daring him to bring it up again. "Grover and Annabeth can come with us. We will need help on this and you might be the best person for it."

Annabeth smirked at Triton and smiled gratefully and Percy.

"Good. You four will leave this afternoon. Go get ready," Chiron said.

**I would have waited to bring in the Death kids, but I like Nico too much to leave him out of the story for too long.**


	10. Bus Attack

**Okay, some of you actually gave me a really good idea that intrigued me so much I could _not_ pass it up. Thanks for that**

Chapter 10

"Are you crazy?" Triton asked when they got back to their cabin. "She's a daughter of Athena!"

"Didn't seem to bother you before," Percy replied, sitting on his bed.

"Letting her show us around camp is different. Now that she knows who our father is, she shouldn't even want to go with us. Our parents hate each other—"

"So by default we should hate each other? Why can't we just get along with her? She obviously wants to go on the quest, and she really will be helpful on it."

Triton looked at him quizzically. "Why are you …? You like her, don't you?" He started to gin mischievously. But there was a strange emotion welling up in him that he had never felt before. But he wasn't going to let him see that. He wasn't even sure what it was

"What? No I don't! Why would you think that?"

"Dude, I've been around long enough to recognize that signs. You like her, which is why you're letting her come with us."

"I don't like her!"

Someone knocked on the door right then, punctuating Percy's statement. Triton was snickering, as well as fighting off the strange emotion at the same time, as he went to answer it. The Stoll brothers stood there, grinning.

"Hey!" Conner said. "We were wondering …"

"If you wanted to buy some candy, only a drachma a piece," Travis finished.

Triton stared at them. "Isn't a drachma a bit too much for a piece of candy?"

"Nope!"

He narrowed his eyes. "I think we're good."

"But these are one of a kind candy! You can't get this kind of candy anywhere else in the camp," Conner said, sounding like a sales person.

"Probably because the camp doesn't sell Hersey's bars. But you can get them anywhere else," Percy said, coming up behind Triton.

Before either of them could say anything, Grover and Annabeth came over. Annabeth was glaring at the Stoll brothers, knowing that they were trying to pull some type of prank.

"What are you two doing?"

"Nothing, Annabeth!" they said, flashing a grin at her before running back to their cabin.

Annabeth sighed. "You two ready? Chiron said that he's got bus tickets for us ready."

"Already?" Percy asked, grabbing his stuff, which consisted of a change of clothes, some money, both mortal and drachmas, and some snacks for the trip. Triton had likewise in his.

"He works pretty fast with this kind of thing." They started to walk toward the big house, but Annabeth paused. "Wait. Do you two have weapons?"

Percy and Triton glanced at each other, then nodded, but didn't specify anything. It seemed to satisfy her enough, though. She at least started walking again.

On the crest of Half-Blood Hill, Chiron was waiting for them in full centaur form. When they got to the top of the hill, Percy saw that a van was waiting for them.

"Are you ready?" Chiron asked. He looked sad, as if he were looking upon dead kids. Despite that, they all nodded. "Argus will take you to the bus station. Be careful."

Annabeth smiled at him, then walked down the hill. The three boys stayed were they were.

"Don't worry, Chiron. We'll be fine," Percy said, trying to cheer up the horse

"You need more training. All the other heroes had more training. But there is nothing I can do now. But please get along with Annabeth. I would rather you didn't kill each other."

Percy and Triton nodded, then, along with Grover, headed down the hill. The satyr was chewing nervously on a tin can.

"Don't worry, guys. I'm sure we'll do fine." But he didn't sound all that confident.

The bus station was filled with people waiting for their bus. The four demigods— or rather two demigods, a satyr and a minor god—, tried to blend in with the crowd. But Grover stated to sniff around like a dog, a nervous expression on his face.

"What's wrong, Grover?" Annabeth asked.

He was shaking. "I think that there is a monster around."

Everyone was looking around, but a monster was not immediately obvious. But that wasn't surprising. Finally, after they almost gave up and just said that the satyr's nose was acting up, Triton cursed under his breath, staring at a large man on the other side of the platform.

"Maybe we should find some other was across the country," he suggested.

"What is it?" Percy asked, knowing that Triton would tell what the monster was. Triton just glanced at him, then looked back at the man, who was also staring back at them.

Just then, their bus decided pulled up and everyone boarded, including the demigods. The man did not, however. They were all extremely nervous, watching all the passengers from the back of the bus.

"If there was a monster back there, we can only hope that we're going fast enough to lose it," Annabeth said, but she didn't sound like she was all that confident in that hope.

As soon as they got out of the city, there was a loud roar from behind them. When they turned around, only Triton was not surprised. A large humanoid creature covered in course fur with curved horns on top of its head. It was covered in armor and was running full speed at them.

"The Minotaur!" Annabeth exclaimed. "We need to get off, now!"

"But how? We can't just jump off a bus going sixty-five down the highway!" Grover said.

Annabeth looked at him. "We stop the bus."

With that, she put on her invisibility hat and disappeared. The guys kept watch on the Minotaur as she did whatever she was doing. It was getting steadily closer.

Suddenly, they were thrown backwards as the tires of the bus skidded against the asphalt. Terrified and surprised screams came from the passengers.

"Come on!"

They were the first ones to recover and ran off the bus. Annabeth appeared next to them once they reached the side of the road.

"We can't let it kill all those people. We have to distract it somehow."

Percy took another look at the monster, then yelled out, "Hey, ugly! Ground beef!"

Annabeth looked at him like he was crazy, Grover started to shake with fear, and Triton just stared at him incredulously.

"Have I taught you nothing? Those were horrible insults!"

The Minotaur didn't seem to agree as it had taken its attention off the bus and was now charging them.

"Scatter!" Annabeth screamed.

As they split up, the bull-man charged right into where they had been standing, crashing into a tree. Annabeth took out a knife while Percy pulled out Riptide, Triton had his sword, which he could shrink down to look like a knife that he could strap to his calf, and Grover had his tin cans for a weapon.

The Minotaur got its horns out of the tree and turned to fight them again. It looked extremely angry; its nostrils flared, it hunched down on all fours, pawing the ground as it got ready to change again.

"Now, what?" Percy asked.

"The best way to kill it would be to get up under its rib cage. Someone has to do that while the rest of us distract it," Annabeth answered.

The bull-man charged again, but only Grover moved out of the way. As he moved to the side to throw tin cans at the monster, the other three pointed their weapons at it and braced themselves.

At the last second, Triton and Annabeth jumped to the side, leaving Percy, who would have said something about being left there if they weren't in a fight, to be the only one in front of the monster. The Minotaur stuck out its arms to grab them.

Triton jumped up, managing to avoid being grabbed, but Annabeth wasn't so lucky. But just as the Minotaur's hand closed around her, Percy's sword rammed into its chest, making golden dust fall around them.

Annabeth stared at him, a slight fear in her eyes, but she wasn't showing it at all. "We have to get away from here."


	11. Who are you?

**Sorry, I've been meaning to update for a while, but I just got to be too lazy and kept forgetting, then my parents took my computer away cause I was falling behind in my math class, but I got it back now, which is good cause I hate going without my computer. **

Chapter 11

They ran through the forest, trying to get as far away as possible. The monster may have been dead, but they didn't want to attract more by staying near there. It was dark out now, and even Triton was tired. They had been going for a couple hours now.

There was silence between them, even though they had long since stopped running and gasping for breath. The only sound was the dead leaves under their feet and Grover's goat braying.

Finally, Percy couldn't take it anymore. The silence was starting to drag on him. "I'm hungry." The others just looked at him in annoyance.

"We're all hungry, Seaweed Brain," Annabeth said.

"Well, I just felt the need to—wait. What did you call me?"

She smirked. "Seaweed Brain." Triton was snickering, thinking his brother would finally understand why he shouldn't like a daughter of Athena. Plus, he was glad that she hadn't given the name to him. It just didn't fit him and all of his awesomeness.

Percy glared at her. "And what is that supposed to mean, Wise Girl?"

She rolled her eyes. "Because your brain is full of seaweed." She shrugged. "Don't worry, Theesay. You won't be left out for long. I'm thinking ... Fish Tail."

Triton traded laughing at Percy for glaring at Annabeth. Percy burst out laughing. She had no idea how right she was.

"And do you have a reason for that one?" Triton ground out between clenched teeth.

She shrugged again. "When you were sitting in the creek last night, it looked like you had a fish tail."

Triton cringed. He hadn't realized that he had let his ocean form show through slightly. He really should control that better. Of course, he was surprised anyone had noticed.

Percy started to laugh even harder. "Dude, you should see your face."

Triton glared at him. Without thinking, he held out his hand and a powerful blast of saltwater shot out, hitting Percy in the chest and sending him flying backwards. Only after did he realize that he really shouldn't have done that. He had just given the daughter of Athena the clue she needed to accuse them of being different. And he knew that she would never give it up before she got her answers.

Percy got up, glaring at him. "That is completely unfair!"

"Oh, well." Too late. Triton couldn't take back what he had done, might as well roll with it.

"Hey! We shouldn't fight with each other," Grover said. The two brothers glanced over at him. Had he really not seen what Triton had done? There wasn't even a stream anywhere near them.

But Annabeth seemed to get it, if her astonished expression was anything to go by. "Who are you?"

"Well," Percy began. "I'm Percy—"

"I know that! But you two obviously haven't told us the entire story. It isn't possible that you just found out who you were if you can do _that_. Who. Are. You?"

Triton smirked at her. "Don't you know that it's very bad for your health to anger a god?"

Percy snorted. "Hate to break it to you, Triton, but you aren't one of the major gods."

"What does that have to do with anything?"

Annabeth and Grover were staring at them with wide eyes, practically frozen where they stood.

"What are you talking about?" Annabeth asked tentatively. Almost as if she we afraid of the answer.

"I am Triton, son of Poseidon and Amphitrite. Percy is who he says he is, except he's known since he was seven who he was and his experiences are different than what we told you."

Annabeth looked astonished. "What about the Ancient Laws? No god can live with their child. And I doubt they allow their godly brother to go on a quest with them."

Triton shrugged. "Those were tossed out when Zeus allowed Dad to take Percy with him when he found him."

Percy wasn't sure, but he thought he saw envy in Annabeth's eyes. "But why did he ask in the first place? What about your mother, Percy?"

Percy's eyes hardened, dark, forbidden memories invading his mind. "Never speak of her!" His fists and teeth clenched, trying to ward off the memories that he had thought he had locked away long ago.

Annabeth stepped away from him. "What's wrong with you?"

"Um … maybe we should talk about something else," Triton suggested, worried about his brother.

"No! I want to know," Annabeth said, waiting for Percy to answer her.

"That woman was that worst possible mother ever. I never did anything to make her hate me, other than live." Percy clenched his eyes closed, not wanting to see what was hidden behind his eyes, but finding at it was impossible to keep them open.

The mad woman that had supposedly been his mother hid there, screaming at him, cursing his father. Hitting him, throwing things at him.

Triton wrapped his brother into a hug, wanting to get him out of whatever hole he had fallen into. Annabeth came over as well, seeing that Percy was in pain. Grover was the last one to walk over, but he was just as concerned as the other two.

Finally, Percy opened his eyes again, grateful that they wanted to help him. They were the closest friends he had ever had. The ones in the ocean weren't all that close to him. They acted like he was their prince most of the time. Grover and Annabeth didn't care who he was, they just wanted him to be alright.

Triton made a cup of water appear in his hand and gave it to him. He drank it all in practically one gulp, feeling energy flow through it.

"Was that saltwater?" Annabeth asked, wrinkling her nose at the thought of what it had tasted like.

Percy grinned at her. "What? Don't like the taste of saltwater?"

"No!"

* * *

A gigantic pit stood before him. The shadow of a person stood beside him, but, even so, Percy couldn't tell who it was. The person's voice sounded familiar, but he couldn't place where he'd heard it before.

"The plan is in motion. They have sent out a quest."

"Excellent!" the familiar pit voice boasted. "The two most powerful demigods will soon be mine, along with two of the most powerful weapons. With them combined, Zeus and his Olympians won't stand a chance."

"But, my Lord, there was something weird about the sons of Poseidon. They both seemed as if they were hiding something, one more than the other."

"That doesn't matter. They will do just fine. You just do your job—"

* * *

Somebody was shaking Percy pretty hard, he even considered dumping water on him just to see if it would work. When Percy finally opened his eyes, Triton was standing over him with an amused expression.

"About time you woke up."

Percy glared at him, then sat up. "You try having freaky dreams that tell you you're playing into a trap."

He froze. "What?"

"Where's Grover and Annabeth?" Percy asked, looking around the clearing they had stopped in, avoiding the question for the moment.

Triton looked irritated at being ignored, but answered him anyway. "They want ahead to try and find something to eat. Are you going to tell me your dream?"

Percy nodded. "I think that they should hear it too."

The minor sea god sighed, knowing he wasn't going to win this. He pointed towards the way that the other two had gone, and they started walking. Triton kept trying to get information out of his brother, but he would always evade him.

Finally, they broke through the trees and saw a little store with a bunch of statues strewn around. Some looked happy, like they were taking a picture. Others had looks of horror on their faces.

"Why does this seem familiar?" Triton mused.

The sight seemed familiar for some reason, but Triton couldn't recall why. They silently walked into the building, not wanting to announce themselves to any waiting monsters.

"Come, dears. Let's get you some food so you can go back to your friends."

The voice came from the other side of the door way they had just been about to go through. They froze on with side of the doorway. Silently poking their heads through the door, Percy saw his friends sitting at a picnic table with dazed expressions. In front of them was a wrinkled old lady with a veil over her head and a vague Middle Eastern look.

"Medusa," Triton cursed.


	12. Medusa

**Sorry for taking so long. My comp got taken up again, and I was reading more than writing, plus I got my dad to print my two original books, so I've started to edit them. I'll try to update quicker but it will be hard with all the stuff mentioned, plus my finals are coming up, so that my pose a problem**

Chapter 12

Even though that he could barely see what she looked like, Percy could tell by just the skin on her hands that the gorgon would be extremely ugly. But he knew that he would never want to actually see what she really looked like, even if he wouldn't get turned to stone by doing so.

Unfortunately, Triton accidentally said her name too loud and the old lady turned around quickly. Percy and Triton ducked back behind the door before she could get a good look at them, or them her.

"Who goes there?" she called. They didn't answer her. "Oh, come on, boys. Auntie Em's not going to hurt you."

Triton snorted. "Just turn us to stone. Nothing painful about that."

Suddenly, Grover landed on the ground between them and someone landed against Percy, though he couldn't see who it was since he could still see the floor where the person was supposed to be. Triton dragged Grover over to his side of the door just as Annabeth took off her invisibility hat.

"We have to kill her. And the only way to do that is to cut off her head while looking at a reflection of her. That would probably through off her gaze just enough to stop it from turning us to stone."

"Why don't we just get out of here?" Percy was about to say more when a loud hissing noise sounded in the other room. It was followed by softer hisses that got steadily closer.

"Children," Medusa cooed. "There is no reason to run from me. I won't hurt you."

Triton, finally getting fed up with it, stepped out from the door. "Medusa, you will leave my friends alone." His voice was commanding, a voice Percy had only ever heard him use when he was talking to the Atlantian army.

"Ah, son of Poseidon. It's certainly been a while. Tell me, why do you want to save these children? One of them is the daughter of the grey-eyed one. I must punish her!"

Annabeth stiffened, and she glared at the wall. Percy glanced around, looking for anything that would help him get close to Medusa without looking directly at her.

"I won't let you. You need to learn self-preservation, Medusa. At the rate you're going, you're not going to be able to reform." Triton kept his gaze away from the gorgon, but he was able to see her enough to disconcert where she moved to.

Annabeth pointed to a glass ball. "You can use that," she whispered to Percy. "The curve of it should deflect her gaze so you can get close to her without turning to stone."

Percy nodded and picked up the orb. He made sure that he could see through it well enough to be able to fight Medusa before he stepped into the doorway beside his brother.

"Another son of Poseidon?" Medusa asked. She sounded extremely happy, almost as if she couldn't believe her luck.

She was even more of a hag than Percy had originally thought. He had never thought anyone could be _that_ ugly. Seemed he was wrong. He held his sword down as he slowly approached her, trying not to panic about it. So far, he was doing a good job.

Triton watched as his little brother walked toward the monster. He was ashamed of himself. He was the only one here that couldn't be turned to stone and he hadn't had the nerve to even look at her, much less get closer to kill her. But he wasn't going to let her kill him. If she so much as touched his because of his cowardice, he would make sure that she never reformed again.

He moved to the side, stepping around statues to get behind her. Once there, he called her name, prompting her to turn toward him.

Percy raised his sword, but right then, Grover, with his eyes closed, suddenly ran out from his hiding place with a club in hand.

"Grover!" Annabeth called.

Medusa whirled back around, but before she could do anything, her neck rammed into Riptide, which had never stopped moving, even through its wielder's surprise and confusion. Her head fell to the ground as the rest of her body disappeared.

Triton quickly took a table cloth and covered the head so everyone else could open their eyes without the danger of turning to stone. He looked over at Grover. "Are you an idiot, satyr?"

"I tried to stop him, but he wouldn't listen," Annabeth said, coming out from behind the wall.

"I just wanted to help," Grover tried to defend himself. He looked scared, but determined at the same time. Percy had to admire his courage. Triton may not have been as powerful as the Olympians, but it was still very brave to stand up to a god like that at all. Never mind that he himself did it all the time.

Triton snarled at him, but Annabeth went up and touched his arm, making him freeze. He glanced at her to see a stern expression on her face.

"Don't be mad at him. He just wanted to help. You would have done the same thing if you had been in his place."

There is was again, a strange emotion that he didn't know what it was. But this was different than when he had thought that Percy had liked her. This was sweeter somehow. But now was not the time to dwell on it, and he wouldn't even think on it for now.

Percy glanced at them, oblivious to what his brother was feeling. "What are we going to do with the head?"

Triton jerked, pulling his arm away from the girls touch, then turning to Percy. "Do you think there will be any use for it?"

He shrugged. "Not that I can think of. Might as well get rid of it then."

Annabeth shook her head, as if getting herself out of a daze. "While you two do that, I'm going to go get something to eat."

* * *

Percy watched as his brother stoked the fire, making sure that the head was completely destroyed. The other two sat around the fire as well, eating what food they had found at Medusa's lair.

It amazed him how well Grover and Annabeth took the news that Triton was a god. He had expected them to freak out completely and act as if he was an Olympian and Percy an outsider.

He was extremely happy that they cared for him. He wished he had more friends like that. But life under the sea, as spectacular as it was, was more like life as a prince- even if he really was one. And a prince didn't have many true friends.

He hoped that everyone at camp didn't find out about his childhood, in the mortal world or in his dad's kingdom. That would make him feel like the outsider he didn't want to be.

"Percy," Triton said, looking up. "Was there something you wanted to tell us?" The look in his eyes said there was no way to avoid the question.

Percy sighed. He had actually been hoping that he would forget about that. But there was nothing he could do about it, so he told them. He still wasn't sure who the person in the dream was, but he was sure that he knew them from somewhere.

"Did you recognize either voice?" Annabeth asked after a long, tense silence.

Percy nodded. "The one coming from the pit. I've heard it many times before in other dreams with that pit."

Triton's eye twitched. "Many? How many have you had?"

Percy shrugged, trying to seem like it didn't bother him. "I lost count a long time ago. There was only a lot around the time I was seven. After that, there was the occasional dream once in a while, but not very much.

"And you didn't tell anyone?"

"I didn't see the reason to. Dad said that Zeus didn't do anything about the first one so I didn't really see the reason to tell about the rest."

"It still would have been good if you had told us." Triton sounded just a bit sad, as well as scared. He stared at Percy with a forlorn expression that it made him wonder what he was thinking.

Percy looked away, regretting not telling him about his dreams. But there was nothing that he could do about it now. He really hadn't thought anything about it. The dreams were freaky, but he hadn't thought that they had meant anything.

"How are we going to get across the country?" Grover asked.

"We should probably stay off public transportation," Annabeth suggested. "So, that really just leaves the option of a car. The problem is, we don't have one."

"We could get one somehow," Triton said, not looking at Percy.

"You want to steal it? We aren't children of Hermes; we aren't the best of thieves. And I, for one, don't exactly feel comfortable with stealing one."

"It's the only way. Either we steal one, or we risk getting more mortals hurt," Triton countered, glaring at her.

"I still refuse to do it!"

"Hey," Grover said, holding his arms out. "Why don't we just walk for a while, and look for some type of transportation?"

Percy nodded. "I agree. That way, we don't get in a fight. We really don't need that."

Triton glared at his brother, but he eventually relented, as did Annabeth. They quickly put out the fire and started walking. They weren't exactly sure if they were going the right way, but they kept walking anyway. There wasn't really anything they could do about it anyway.

Percy wondered how they were going get across the country if they weren't going to steal a car. But, Grover hadn't really objected to the idea, and it really was the best idea. But if they did find a car, who would drive?

Finally, after about an hour, they came to the edge of a town, and the edge of a car lot. It had some pretty expensive cars in it, as well some ratty, run down ones. What was better, no one was there. The lot was completely devoid of people, but it didn't look like it had been this way for long, a few weeks at most.

The two brothers grinned at each other. "Here we are!"

**I'm trying to use Percy's POV more, make it easier to understand. This is the first time I've written in 3rd person, and beside the fact that I find it surprisingly easy, my mind seems to like switching randomly between Percy and Triton's thoughts. I hope its not too confusing.**


	13. Charger

**Sorry it took awhile. It kinda got a writers block on this thing. Also known as I came up with 3 other stories and am now juggling 4. I'll try to keep up with it, but I may fall behind a little bit. Just a warning.**

Chapter 13

Percy and Triton walked into the parking lot, trying to seem nonchalant in case the cameras were still working. Annabeth and Grover walked in from the other side. Percy scanned the cars, looking for one would fit all of them, as well as one that looked cool. So far, it was either one of the other.

After a while, both groups split up to look separately. Percy walked in the opposite direction of his brother, now mostly just looking at looks first, then space. There were several cool looking sports cars, but they only had the front seat or was a convertible without the top.

Finally, he came across and old, dark blue charger.

The charger could easily fit all of them, and the paint job didn't look scratched. The only problem was the lack of plates. On both the back and the front of the car were empty rectangles that were supposed to house licenses plates.

Annabeth walked over to him. "Find anything?" Percy pointed to the charger. "Nice car." She didn't sound all that enthusiastic.

When they had spotted the lot, Annabeth had tried to protest, but she had been out voted because Grover had agreed to stealing a car.

"BOOOOOOM!"

Both demigods jumped, quickly turning around to see the bright orange flames, the forming mushroom cloud, and the doubled-over forms of Triton and Grover.

As they started to walk over, Percy called, "What did you do, Triton?"

"Why do you automatically blame me?" Triton called back, barely able to speak because of his laughter and mirth.

Percy didn't bother to answer that. When Annabeth and he got over to where the other two were grinning, self-satisfied, at the burning car.

"A shame," Triton said conversationally, putting his arm on his brother's shoulder. "That used to be a nice looking viper."

Annabeth rolled her eyes. "If you liked the car, why did you blow it up?"

"Because an _empousai_ had been sleeping in it. Triton threw his sword at it, but he accidentally hit the gas tank," Grover answered, laughing a little, sounding like the goat he was.

Percy snorted at the image of an _empousai_ sleeping in a car, all innocent like, if there ever was such a thing for them, and then getting blow up by a miss-thrown sword. Or a perfectly thrown sword. It was hard to tell sometimes with Triton.

"If there was one; there are bound to be more nearby," Annabeth said.

Triton nodded. "Did either of you find a car?"

"There's a sweet looking charger over there," Percy suggested.

When Triton looked over at the car, he shrugged. "Not as cool as the viper but it works."

"And the viper probably wouldn't have fit all of us."

"Minor detail."

* * *

The whole time he was driving, Triton never once dipped below 90 miles per hour. Everyone else was clutching the doors, fearfully watching as they passed other cars. Percy was sure they had caused more than one accident from people slamming on their brakes.

"Stop acting so scared. We're not going to crash," Triton had said about it, glee clear in his eyes.

The only answer he got was triplet glares from the three passengers.

They had been on the road for a day and a half, only stopping for a couple hours to get some rest. They had gotten to Kansas City, and had decided to stop again for some snacks.

"Okay, so we need tin cans and some enchiladas. Burritos wouldn't be bad either," Grover said as Triton drove carefully down the streets. He was finally going the speed limit.

"How about we just get some sandwiches or something. It would be best that we stay in one place as short of a time as possible. We need to get to the Underworld as fast as possible," Annabeth suggested.

Triton shook his head. "Actually, we need to stop in Vegas first."

She looked confused. "Why?"

"Because when Mom told us about the weapons being stolen, she said that Hades said something about getting something in Vegas," Percy said.

"And the prophecy said: _save the ones lost in the flower_. I have a feeling I know what it's talking about," Triton added. Everyone else looked at him curiously, but he never elaborated on it. Even after all the prodding everyone else did.

Percy started to think about the prophecy, and the war. What would happen if the gods did go to war? Where would he end up? And even more, what about the person that stole the weapons. Who would dare steal something such as them? Whoever it was, they were going to be in big trouble.

Triton parked the car outside of a grocery store. They immediately split up once they got inside. Percy went down the candy aisle and started to pick up all different kinds of candy. He figured that the others wouldn't mind so much if they got some too.

Growling started up behind him, and Percy whirled around to face a woman, who had bared her unusually pointy teeth. He expected her to say something, but instead she just started to change into her monster form.

Her skin turned green, her teeth got even longer, as did her neck. She sprouted a tail and fell down onto all fours. Except she was still taller at the shoulder than a regular woman would be. When she was done, she was a scaly, growling dragon.

"Oh, great," Percy groaned. He set down the basket of candy he had been holding and took out Riptide. The dragon hissed at the appearance of the blade, but it still didn't stop it from swiping its claws at him.

He ducked, slashing his sword. Blood started to gush down its leg as Percy picked up his basket again and took off down the aisle. He almost ran into Triton, who had his own food, as he was running from the dragon.

"What did you do?"

"Why do you always assume it's me?"

The brothers grinned at each other before facing the monster. Its tail had already knocked down several shelves and the mortals had started screaming.

Together, Percy and Triton dropped their stuff and charged the dragon. Triton made salt water appear around him, which Percy was able to use as his own weapon. The water shot straight at the dragon drop both sides with deadly speed.

Triton, being the theatrical being that he was, decided to make a noose out of his, and strung it around the dragon's neck, making it stand on its hind legs a bit at the rest of the water hung from the ceiling. Percy just used his as a whip as the two brothers went after it with their swords.

It didn't take long for the dragon to die, with two swords in its hide.

Once they were done, they ran back over to where they had dropped their stuff, and where Annabeth and Grover now stood. They stared at them in awe, but it was soon shattered by the yelling of the mortals.

"Hey! You four, come here!" the manager screamed.

"Time to go!" Percy said, picking up his candy.

All of them had food, and they didn't bother paying for it as they ran out the door.


	14. Flower Children

**Sorry for the wait. I was trying to do my reading the books story first, but I accidentally did this one instead. I'll try to get that one out with in the next week, but considering how long its taking, I make no promises.**

Chapter 14

They drove for another day before making it to Las Vegas. The city was bursting with activity. And lights. Can't forget the lights. It was almost brighter than New York City; at the very least the lights were more brilliant and colorful.

"So … um … where exactly are we going?" Grover asked.

Triton paused, which was dangerous since he was still driving, and this wasn't the kind of traffic you wanted to lose focus in. "I'm not really completely sure, actually. I—"

"You said you did," Annabeth pointed out.

"I said I _thought_ I did," he shot back. "Something about the prophesy with the lost in the flower thing."

"So we need to find a flower that it would be possible to get lost in," she concluded.

"I could eat a flower like that," Grover sighed dreamily.

Percy looked to where the satyr was staring. There was a large casino with a large white flower rimmed in red as the entrance. More lights flashed out in front of it, proclaiming in the Lotus Hotel and Casino.

"That thing is made of metal and lights, G-man."

"It still looks good."

"Stop over there, Fish Tail," Annabeth ordered, pointing over at the casino.

The minor sea god looked confused for a second, until he saw what they were looking at and quickly complied. He pulled into the driveway of the flower casino, parking in an empty spot and putting the keys in his pocket before a valet could take them.

"Well, let's go," Triton said, trying to cover up his nervousness. He knew this place now, and did not like the idea of going in there for any amount of time.

The other three nodded, passing him to get into the building.

Percy topped just inside the door. The place was full of games and people, even kids, which was awesome since usually kids weren't allowed in that part of a casino. He grinned at his friends, not seeing his brothers troubled expression.

"You guys thinking what I'm thinking?"

Grover nodded, but Annabeth looked cautious.

"We're here for a reason, guys. We don't need to be playing games."

"Just a few minutes. Please, Annabeth?"

When she didn't answer, Percy and Grover took off into the casino.

"Percy, wait!" Triton yelled, but not even Annabeth had heard him as all three were already past the bellhops with their cards, heading to the games that littered the place.

* * *

Percy loved the casino, with its various games and slot machines. The flower cookies were good too. He didn't know how many he'd had or how many games he'd played in the two hours that he'd been here.

He occasionally saw his brother, but he didn't register the panicked, or sometimes frustrated, expression that Triton had on.

Annabeth and Grover had both found games that pertained to their interest, but Percy liked to try multiple games, that way he could get the full extent of what the casino had to offer.

Eventually, he ended up shooting hoops next to a boy that looked about ten with black hair and olive colored skin. Throughout the entire game, he was chatting, non-stop, about some game called Mythomagic.

"I'm not sure which one is my favorite one. I think it might be Hades, just because he can raise the dead and he's really good if your enemy attacks first. Although, Dionysus is good too. He can …"

He droned on and on about different gods and their powers. While he'd been talking about Hades, Percy idly wondered what the kid would do if he ever met his uncle.

A jolt went through him. _Hades, Dad, weapons!_

He looked around at the games, the waitresses carrying the platters full of flower cookies, and the people. His brain felt like it had come out of a daze. How long had they been here?

"Perseus Jackson!"

He spun around to find Triton glaring at him, but his expression was more distressed than angry.

"How dare you run off without making sure it's safe! Wake up!"

"I am awake! And I didn't know that this place would take away my conscious decisions. What about you? You don't seem like it had affected you at all."

"I'm a god! Even the Lotus Eaters' spells won't affect me."

"You're a god?" the black haired kid asked. Both brothers stiffened, just now noticing that he was listening to their conversation. "That is _so_ awesome! Which one are you? Do I have your card? I wonder what you can do …" He went on.

Triton glanced at Percy. _Card?_ he mouthed. Percy just shrugged and shook his head.

"Where is Grover and Annabeth?" Percy asked, ignoring the kid.

"At their games. You were the only one I couldn't find so I figured that they were fine where they were until I found you."

"Well, then, let's go get them. We have a quest to complete."

Triton nodded, glancing at the kid, who was now listening with interest again. He noticed something about the kid, something that made him different than regular mortals. "The kid is coming with us. I think that he's a demigod."

"I am? What's a demigod? I get to go with you? I don't think my sister will let me. She's kind of strict about that kind of thing," the kid said.

Triton nodded. "Go get your sister. We will explain everything later. Percy, why don't you go help convince his sister to come? And if you fall into the daze again, you are going to wish you never left the sea."

Percy rolled his eyes, but nodded. "Good luck with Grover and Annabeth."

With that, they split up. The kid dragged Percy away, towards the Skee Ball machines. They walked right up to a black haired and olive skinned girl that looked a lot like the kid, except she was about a year older, who was intently aiming the balls that the target holes.

"Bianca!" the kid exclaimed, causing her to drop the ball, mid-swing, sending it crashing into a waitress that had been walking behind them.

"Sorry!" Bianca apologized, then quickly turned to the boy. "Nico! Don't do that!"

"But we have to go! A god and his friend wants us to go with them!"

"Nico, there is no such thing as gods. They don't exist. Don't let that game of yours get to your head."

"Actually," Percy interrupted. "The gods are real. They live above Manhattan. I'm actually a demigod son of Poseidon."

Bianca looked up as if she had just noticed him. "Oh … um, hi. … look, I really appreciate you indulging my brother, but I would also appreciate if you didn't encourage his antics."

"They are real and I can prove it, but we need to get out of here first. My name is Percy Jackson, by the way."

"Bianca di Angelo, and this is my brother Nico. Wait, no. We can't go with you. We don't even know you."

"Please," Percy pleaded. "We believe that you are demigods as well. I can only help you if you come with us."

"We can't – Nico!" she exclaimed as he brother stomped over to Percy's side.

"I'm going with him."

Bianca was about to protest, but someone behind them yelled out, "There they are! Get them!"

All three of them whirled around to see guards running toward them. Percy turned back towards Bianca, holding out his hand with a pleading look in his eyes. Her hand flew into his.

"Okay!"

Percy gripped her hand and grabbed Nico's arm and dragged them toward the door. They were able to keep ahead of the guards until they got to the lobby. Several guards were blocking the door and even more were coming from all sides.

"Percy!"

Triton, Annabeth, and Grover ran up to them. Bianca's grip tightened as she tried to figure out if they were friend or foe. Percy met his brother's gaze, and they nodded at each other.

Percy let go of Nico and pulled out Riptide, managing to uncap it one-handed. Triton took out his sword at the same time.

"Whoa, cool!" Nico exclaimed.

Triton summoned water and flooded the floor. Percy took control of it, whipping it at any of the guards that came near them. The group started to slowly advance toward the door. The Fish Twins used the water to keep the guards away, but Annabeth took care of any that got past them.

The guards near the door braved the water and rushed them. The three with weapons turned their attention to them. The three without stepped back a bit, Grover and Nico more than Bianca because she wasn't willing to let go of Percy's hand just yet.

Percy swung both his sword and the water at the same time at the guard directly in front of him. Apparently, these guards weren't human because they didn't seem to mind the water whips very much.

The guards had their own weapons so it wasn't really a surprise when Bianca abruptly let go of his hand. What did surprise Percy was when his opponent was suddenly knocked out and fell to the ground. Bianca was standing there with a silver serving tray.

Percy grinned at her. "Good job!"

"Can we go now?" Grover called from the doorway, Nico standing next to him.

Percy looked over at Triton and Annabeth, who had just finished with the other guards. Percy dropped the water and hurried to the door with Bianca as Triton nodded.

"Let's go."


End file.
